Manuscripts

10.1163/9789004273252_002

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Chapter Summary

This chapter actually consists of eight fragments, discovered at Oxyrhyn-chus in the same season of excavations as was P. Oxy. IV 654 (i.e. 1903), and published immediately after the British Library fragment. The fragments, the largest of which is 12 x 8.3 cm, come from another papyrus roll, with writing on the recto only. The handwriting is skilfully done, Hurtado comments, and the small size of script leads him to conclude, again, that this was very likely to have been a personal copy. Moving to usage, how are we to assess the number of manuscripts. In one sense, three early Greek fragments are a reasonably large number: Hurtado points out that although this score is much lower than the total number of second- or third-century fragments of Psalms, John and Matthew, it is higher than, for example, Corinthians and Mark.